Monsters Unite!
by Keji Fujikiro
Summary: All alone in the world, Nip has to figure out what to do to avoid Grey Wolf's troups.
1. Default Chapter Title

Monsters Unite!

Story 1:   
In the Beginning...

Nothing could be heard for miles around. The smoke from what used to be a town, now only a small crater in the ground, was just beginning to settle, and give way for the early morning fog, its mysterious air only accented by the sparse rays of sun that shot through the overcast sky. Sparse rays of sun that fell over lifeless forms, none moving, none breathing. Forms that only hours ago were smiling and laughing, perhaps preparing for bed, perhaps discussing the day's events over a cup of coffee, but no matter what they were doing hours ago, they were gone now, silent and motionless, all, save one small form.   
Blue fur blew gently in the wind on this form, still motionless, like the others, save its gentle breath. This form was approximately 3 feet tall, and would seem more like a stuffed wolf doll with two, large (at least large in comparison with its body), curved horns protruding from its head.   
Slowly two beady black eyes opened and gazed around the carnage, trying desperately to remember the past few hours' events, which only came as a blur.   
"What happened…? Why did… all…" he asked the wind, his voice cracked with emotion, and eventually lost to his own tears. He buried his head in his hands and plopped down on the ground, crying softly. He could remember the attack vaguely, as if it were a dream, yet the carnage around him showed him quite clearly that it was much more than a dream. 

Nip was "born" as all monsters are "born". He was released from his prison, a mystery disk, a small stone disk that, when placed on an altar in a shrine, releases a monster. Quite a simple concept, even if finding these disks wasn't exactly simple.   
"Great, just great… a Bowow… I wanted something powerful, like a Zuum or somethin!"   
Nip shook his head. A Bowow. Yes, that's what he was, a combination between a Mew, a monster that resembled a stuffed cat, and a Tiger, a cold dwelling blue wolf with horns. He stood slowly and shakily, looking at himself. He had the general shape of a Mew, two stubby legs, two stubby arms, a stubby tail, only instead of the shabby yellow coat of a Mew, he was covered in the soft, healthy blue fur of a Tiger. He reached his hand up, as if to confirm… yep, he had two horns on his head, and he was easily able to tell by crossing his eyes that he had a short muzzle.   
"Zuums can be difficult to raise Tim, this will be a nice start for you."   
"Well he is sorta cute…"   
Nip blinked. This Tim character was a young man, possibly 15. Brown hair, brown tunic, brown pants, pretty plain. Was he… a monster rancher? Would Tim be raising him?   
Nip smiled and walked towards Tim, "Hi!" he said in a happy, almost barking like voice.   
"A pleasure to meet you! I'm Tim. I'll be your trainer!" Tim said, as he smiled a bit, "I think I'll name you... Nip."   
"Nip?" Nip thought for a moment. It rolled off the tongue. He liked it! "I like that name! Thank you!"   
The other man, an older, balding man, smiled, "Looks like you two are going to get along well."   
Tim nodded, "I'll do my best to raise him sir, I'll make you proud of me!"   
The man shook his head, "Don't do it for me, do it to realize your own dream."   
Tim smiled and nodded, and with one last handshake, the elderly gentleman left the room, and Tim and Nip.   
Nip blinked, "Who was that?"   
Tim turned to Nip and smiled, "He was my trainer. He taught me everything I needed to know to train you."   
"Really? Like what?"   
"I'll tell you all about him and myself on the way back to my ranch." Tim said, holding out his hand.   
Nip nodded and took it, and hand in hand, the pair walked out of the temple. 

Nip sniffled and wiped a tear away. Poor Tim, he never got a chance to become a great trainer, all because of Moo, the most evil monster of all. He took perfectly happy, content, good-natured monsters, and turned them into his slaves, he turned them into baddies.   
Suddenly Nip cocked head, then sniffed the air. He wasn't alone. He leapt to his feet and ran quickly to a building. He couldn't stay out in the open like this, he was too vulnerable, and there was no guarantee the baddies were all gone.   
He threw a nearby door open, leapt inside, and slammed it shut. He sat, gasping for air for a few moments before rising slowly and peaking out the window to see what was outside.   
"A Black Worm!" he gasped as he saw the small, black worm slither past the building, two ivory tusks glimmering in the sparse sunshine. He dropped to the ground so as not to be seen. Grey Wolf and his troops used these Black Worms as clean up after an attack.   
"General!" The Worm yelled out in a nasal voice, "There's something alive here! Somewhere…" he pointed a tusk at a small footprint, faint, and almost indecipherable.   
Another Black Worm approached the first and nodded, "Then find it, we mustn't let anything survive. Master Grey Wolf would be furious!"   
The first Black Worm nodded and began slithering away. The General slithered in the opposite direction, leaving Nip shivering in the building.   
"What if those Worms find me?" He whispered to himself. They would take him and kill him! Or even worse, they might take him to Moo and turn him into a baddy. Either way, he couldn't stay here, he needed to flee and save himself. He took one quick look outside before slipping quietly out the door and running down the street. He didn't take a single look back, he needed to escape the Worms and their terrible master, Moo. 

A good mile out of town, Nip plopped down under a tree. Whether he was safe or not, he couldn't run any further. If they followed him, it was safe to assume he was out of luck. A crashing behind him proved this to be true. He curled up into a ball and began to sob gently. He was done for.   
"This way!" He heard a voice yell, "Master Gray Wolf will be furious if we let anything escape!"   
Nip shivered. Would they kill him, or take him to Moo to be turned into a baddie?   
"YOU!" A voice yelled. Nip jumped up in surprise. It wasn't from the baddies chasing him! It was a higher pitched voice, like a little girl's, coming from… the tree? "Yeah you! Get up here or those Worms will find you!"   
Nip looked up, his eyes still misty with tears, to see a small creature, about Nip's size, perhaps even smaller, covered in pink fur. She had two small, round ears on the top of her largish head, and two eyes that seemed to bug out of her face. What Nip noticed most, though was the two small wings on her back.   
"Wh… what are you?"   
"Not a baddie, now get up here now" She yelled urgently.   
"But…"   
"NOW!" She yelled again.   
"Hey… I heard something sir…" a voice came from back down the path. The Worms! They could find him! Nip made a decision, and suddenly three sharp claws erected from his paws, and he dug one paw into the tree, then the other, and made his way up the tree, rather quickly, I might add.   
"Now lay down and shut up," the creature whispered, laying belly down on the tree and folding her wings against her back, "the leaves will block their view of us."   
Nip simply nodded and did as he was told. As silently as he tried to remain, though, he still could not control his frightened shivering.   
"Sir… which way? I lost the trail…" One of the worms slithered onto the scene.   
Another worm, this one with a black helmet on what appeared to be his head, slithered into the clearing after him, "What do you mean you lost the trail?!" he yelled angrily.   
"Well sir… which way…?" The worm cowered away.   
"Uh…" the other worm looked around, but he too could not tell which way the creature went "Uh… return to base, there's nothing here."   
"But sir, the tracks…"   
"I said there's nothing here! Now go back to camp!" the other worm replied angrily.   
"Yes sir!" And with that, the first worm slithered back into the forest.   
The second worm gave one last glance into the clearing, even a quick glance into the tree, but, as Nip's saviour had said, the leaves blocked his vision. He frowned when he saw the small holes in the tree, remnants from Nip's claws.   
"Dang woodpeckers…" He sighed and followed his subordinate back to what Nip would assume would be base camp.   
When the worms were well away, the creature stood and stretched her wings, "Geeze, what the heck were you doing down there?!"   
"I was running away…" Nip replied timidly, standing up himself.   
"Well you could have gotten yourself killed!" She said angrily, "be more careful." She started to flap her wings and lifted off the tree branch.   
"Hey wait!" Nip yelled.   
"What?" She replied angrily, frowning.   
"What's… uh… your name?"   
"Why do you care? Just go before those Worms come back."   
"I... you saved me… I just wanted to know your name…" Nip replied timidly, frowning and shuffling his feet.   
She sighed, "My name is Cricket, I'm a Fairy Hopper."   
"Nice to meet you Cricket…" Nip said, sighing.   
Cricket blinked, and sighed as well, "Ah man, you're gonna get yourself killed all by yourself… you have the common sense of a brick!"   
Nip frowned, "What do you mean by that?"   
"When were you unlocked, anyway?" She asked, and landed on the tree branch.   
"Yesterday afternoon…" Nip replied softly.   
"Geeze… and I suppose your trainer was in that town that just got trashed?"   
Nip nodded a bit.   
Cricket sighed, "You're gonna need someone to show you to a town so you don't get your fool head ripped off, or worse yet, get turned into a baddie! Follow me…" She sighed and glided softly to the ground. Nip shrugged and stuck out his claws. He stuck both paws into the tree and slowly began to slide down the tree.   
"So, what's your name, kid?" Cricket asked as Nip landed safely on the ground.   
"I'm Nip… I'm a…"   
"A Bowwow, yeah, I know." Cricket finished his sentence for him, and began down the path, "There's a town a couple miles down the road. We'll get you there so some human can take care of you."   
"But won't the Baddies be heading that way?" Nip asked, cocking his head to the side, confused.   
"Yeah, but not for a long while, and we'll warn the town while we're there. They'll evacuate in plenty of time. Moo's forces lost a lot when they trashed your town. You guys put up a good fight."   
"Why didn't you help?" Nip asked, rather bluntly.   
"What?" Cricket replied, taken aback by the question.   
"Well, what were you doing in that tree?" Nip asked.   
Cricket blinked, "You really do have the common sense of a brick, don't you?!" she almost yelled, "Whoever fights Moo dies or gets turned into a baddie, and I don't want either happening to this fuzzy pink monster!"   
Nip sighed, "I guess I understand why your were afraid."   
"I was not afraid you twit!" Cricket yelled angrily, "I was smart!"   
"So, it's smart to let a town get destroyed and not try and help?" Nip asked, confused.   
"When it's Moo attacking it, it is!" Cricket retorted, angrily.   
"But why were you in the tree? Why didn't you leave?"   
Cricket threw up her arms, "I don't have to explain myself to you!"   
"Well no, you don't… I'm just curious…" Nip replied, looking at the ground.   
"Well curiosity killed the cat, or in your case, the dog." She replied, threateningly.   
"Why are you so defensive about it?" Nip persisted.   
"SHUT UP!" Cricket shot back, "Just walk, or I'll leave you to get your stuffing ripped out by Moo himself!"   
Nip shrugged. He decided it was best not to press the matter any further. 

"I could have sworn I heard something over here…" a Black Worm said as he slithered back into the clearing. He blinked as he saw six long tears in the bark of a tree, "What in the world…?" he wondered as he approached the tree, "Footprints! SIR! I FOUND SOMETHING!" He yelled, curling himself into a tight ball and rolling down the path at breakneck speeds.   
He tore into base camp, past other Black Worms, who looked on with confusion, but otherwise did not try to figure out their comrade's actions.   
"SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIR!" He yelled, rolling through the camp, and finally running into the captain and his two escorts… literally. Worms flew everywhere.   
"What is the idea?!" The captain yelled angrily, rolling onto his belly.   
"Sir, tracks in the woods!" The messenger worm said, panting, gasping for breath.   
"Not likely," the captain replied, looking to his escorts who were likewise righting themselves after the crash, "I checked those woods myself. There is nothing in there."   
"Whatever we were tracking sir, was hiding in a tree." The worm said. The captain's eyes went wide as he remembered the holes in the tree.   
"You three!" he said, pointing to his two escorts and the messenger, "With me! We'll get whatever escaped from that town!" He curled into a ball and tore down the road into the woods, followed closely behind by his three troops. "We'll get them now." He though with a sinister chuckle. 

The duo of lost monsters traveled in silence, staring down the path into nothingness. The air was growing more and more still as the wind seemed to die, creating a muggy, humid atmosphere in the forest, which only served to annoy both monsters even more, each having such thick fur. Nip hid his discomfort, though, with curiosity, as he surveyed all of the new territory with interest. He had seen nothing of this world besides the small town he was brought to life in. He was amazed to see all of the new things. Huge trees, little trees, different flowers, birds, squirrels. Wow! It was all so great! Cricket was just hot and annoyed.   
Finally, Nip broke the silence, "Did you ever have a trainer?"   
Cricket blinked herself into awareness, "What?"   
"A trainer. Did you ever have a trainer? Someone who kept you safe and taught you and…"   
"I know what a trainer is you twit!" Cricket interrupted, "It's none of your business whether I had one or not!"   
"But…"   
"NO! Stop it! I don't want to talk. Just walk, ok?" Cricket said, angrily, and exasperated.   
"I'm sorry…" Nip said, looking at the ground, ashamed, "but, I just wanted to be your friend."   
Cricket stopped and looked at Nip. What was that in her eyes? Sadness?   
"You don't want to have friends, Nip." She said quietly, "I will only teach you one thing about the world, and it's this: friends are bad. They will take you for everything you're worth and leave you to rot in a gutter."   
Nip frowned and watched Cricket as she stood staring at him. No, through him, reliving some past memory.   
"You sound like someone who had a friend once…" he said quietly.   
"That's none of your business Nip." She said, the words almost not leaving her mouth, "We need to move, it's dangerous here."   
Nip sighed and nodded. Suddenly he stopped, "Wait Cricket…"   
"What is it?" She said, resuming her sassy, urgent tone.   
Nip sniffed the air. No… it couldn't be…   
"WORMS! ATTACK!" 

To be continued…   
  



	2. Default Chapter Title

Monsters Unite!

Story 2:   
Worming out of Trouble.

  
  
  
  
  


Nip spun on his heels and stared wide eyed at the worms that tore out of the bush.   
"WORMS! ATTACK!"   
"Run Nip!" Cricket yelled, turning to flee, but two of the four worms had landed behind them, cutting off their hopes for escape.   
"So, this is the creature that escaped our attack." The captain chuckled, "I don't know how you did it, but your flight ends here. Get them!" He yelled. The worm at his side, and a worm behind the duo rolled into balls and flew at the pair.   
Cricket gulped and flapped her wings. At least she would survive. Nip, on the other hand, covered his eyes and waited for the inevitable blow... which never came.   
"What in the world?!" The captain said, which caused Nip to open his eyes, confused. He was flying! He looked around. Indeed, he was a couple feet off the ground. He looked down just in time to see the two worms collide where the duo had been, unrolling onto their back and shaking their heads in pain.   
"NIP!" Cricket yelled, straining. He looked up to see her holding him aloft, flapping her wings madly, "For a little monster you sure weigh a lot!"   
"GET THEM!" The captain yelled again.   
"I... can't... hold you... up anymore!" Cricket yelled. Suddenly Nip's paw slipped from hers and he fell a couple feet, landing on top of one of the two worms under him.   
The Captain growled and stuck his tail up over his head, pointing the sharp spike at the end of it at the fallen Nip.   
Nip grumbled to himself and stood, still on the fallen Worm.   
"Get off me!" The worm yelled, flipping over and flinging a surprised Nip off of him, just as the Captain let his poisonous dart at the end of his tail fly. The dart struck the worm, and he fell to the ground.   
"Blast!" The captain yelled as another dart emerged from his tail.   
The worm behind Nip and Cricket took aim at the recovering Bowwow, and was just about to fire when Cricket landed on his tail, distrupting his aim, and causing the dart to fire into the ground next to Nip, who jumped in surprise.   
"This time I'll get him!" The captain muttered under his breath, taking aim again. Nip's eyes opened wide as he expected another attack, and he dove aside just as the poisonous projectile flew past, and stuck into a tree, "BLAST!" he yelled again, another stinger emerging, "Get him you twit!" he yelled to the last worm, who, so far, had just been watching the battle.   
The last worm grumbled and aimed as well, letting another dart fly, which Nip didn't even have to dodge to avoid, as it missed its mark by a mile.   
The worm Cricket had distrupted threw her off easily, and aimed his dart at this new target, "I got you now!" Cricket rolled aside just as the dart stuck in the ground. She leapt to her feet, then leapt at the worm, fists flailing. She landed a quick blow and leapt aside before the worm could recover its stinger and fire.   
Nip, on the other hand, was having a tougher time avoiding the remaining two worms, he darted and dodged out of the way of each stinger, but it was easy to see he wouldn't be able to keep this up for ever.   
"Cricket!" he yelled as one of the darts flew so close to his ear he could hear it whizzing through the air, "Help!"   
"I'm comin kid!" She screamed back.   
"Not likely!" The worm she was grappeling with yelled, and swung its tail at her, which she avoided, and responded to with a powerful blow from each of her fists, which pushed the worm back a few steps, reeling just long enough for Cricket to jump away and grab Nip.   
"Come on kid!" She yelled, pulling him into a bush just as two darts sunk into the ground.   
"Get them!" the captain yelled. The first worm nodded and rolled into a ball, starting after them at high speeds.   
The second shook his head to clear it after Cricket's blow, "Sir," he said, slithering to his commanding officer, "shouldn't we get reinforcements?"   
The captain looked at him angrily, "We don't need reinforcements to get _those _two! Now move!"   
The worm nodded and rolled up into a ball, tearing after his comrad. The captain grumbled and did the same, leaving their one fallen comrad to his fate. 

"Keep moving!" Cricket yelled, running as fast as she could.   
Nip was beginning to pant now. He couldn't keep this up much longer, "They're faster than us! They'll catch us for sure!"   
"Shut up and run!" She yelled in response.   
Nip merely nodded. He could hear the cracking of twigs and branches behind him, telling him the worms were closing in. He looked down to the soft ground and back at all the footprints they were leaving.   
"We're leaving a trail Cricket! We can't shake them if they have something to follow!" he said, through his weary pants.   
Cricket frowned, "You're right... we need to get off the ground."   
"Trees?" Nip asked, barely able to form words now.   
"Not with your messy method of climbing. I'd wager that's how they found us in the first place." Cricket replied. Even she was beginning to sound a bit winded.   
"Then fly away Cricket. Save yourself..." Nip panted and finally stumbled, falling flat on his face into the muddy path.   
Cricket spun around and slowed, but did not stop. She saw Nip fall and frowned. He was done for, those worms would catch up any time. She could use that diversion to escape but...   
"I'm not going to let them make another baddie to fight!" She yelled, running back to him. She lifted him to his feet and held under his arms, "Hold on... if this doesn't work, we're both dead." she grunted and started to flap her wings, lifting both of them off the ground. Slowly but surely they flew into the air, up to tree level. Finally, after many straining and grunting noises, Cricket landed on a branch, releasing Nip, and stumbling out of weariness.   
"Cricket!" Nip whispered, and grabbed her arm just before she fell off the branch, and just as the worms rolled into the clearing, all three of them skidding to a hault at the now lack of a trail to follow. Nip let one soft grunt and pulled Cricket onto the branch, and pulled her down with him, putting his paw to his lips, "Shhhhhhh..."   
Cricket just stared at him and nodded absently.   
"Captain... the trail..."   
"ARGH!" The captain roared, causing Nip to shiver a bit out of fear, "Find them you ninnies! I don't want them to get away! They _have _to be here somewhere!"   
"The trees, sir?" One of the worms said, looking up into the trees. Nip only prayed this tree had as many leaves as the last. He judged by the worms lack of expression that it did. Now if he could just stay still until they left.   
The Black Worm captain frowned and looked to each tree in turn, "No, if they were in the trees, we'd see those holes in them, like before."   
"Holes sir?" The two worms asked in unison, confused.   
The captain gulped. He'd look like an idiot if they found out he overlooked something so blatantly obvious before when tracking them, "Never mind you maggots! Find them! NOW!" he yelled.   
Both worms nodded and hurried to search the clearing. The captain frowned and examined the tracks. It looked like one of them stumbled, and the other ran a ways, stopped, and came back, but after that, there was no sign of tracks or anything.   
"Sir, one of them could fly." One of the worms piped out, surprising the captain by breaking the silence.   
"What about it solider?!" The captain replied angrily.   
"Well, maybe they flew away?"   
The captain blinked and frowned. Could they have flown away? Or at least into a tree? He looked up and Nip gulped. This wasn't looking good.   
The captain aimed his stinger and fired it into the tree that Nip was in, missing him by a few inches, but causing him to yelp in surprise.   
"There!" The captain yelled, and the three worms aimed into the tree and began firing their stingers.   
"Good going twerp!" Cricket yelled, jumping to her feet and shaking the branch, just enough to knock Nip off, "NIP!" she yelled, actual concern in her voice.   
Nip screamed as he fell, and covered his eyes, waiting the impact, and his capture, or death, whichever the worms decided on.   
He frowned when none of those things happened. Not even the impact.   
"Get him!" he heard the captain yell. He opened his eyes and saw that he was flying! AGAIN! His tail was spinning under him, like a helicopter propellor, almost like a reflex to save him from hitting the ground. A stinger whizzed above him and he gulped. He'd ponder this later.   
"Nip!" Cricket yelled, pointing ahead of him.   
Nip looked and gulped as he saw one of the darts flying right at him! He tilted a bit to the side and flipped upside down, avoiding the stinger completely, and now hovering upside down. He gulped as he saw another flying at him, and stopped his tail from spinning, causing him to drop to the ground, roughly, but at least he avoided the attack.   
Cricket sighed, "Looks like I'll have to save his fuzzy but _again_..." she leapt from the tree and folded her wings, diving right at the worms.   
"Attack attack attack attack!" The captain yelled and reaimed, but too late, as Cricket tackled him, knocking him onto his back as she opened her wings and tried desperately to ascend.   
"Captain!" The two worms yelled in surprise. Suddenly both of them had aimed at Cricket, and both fired, missing her narrowly.   
"Hang on Cricket!" Nip yelled, trying to regain his feet.   
Cricket grumbled, darting this way and that to avoid the attacks from the worms, "Hurry up!"   
The Captain groaned in pain, and tried to roll over to his belly clumsily, but to no avail. Cricket's attack knocked the wind and the energy right out of him.   
Nip regained his footing and tackled one of the worms, catching him by surprise, causing his dart to miss its mark, and sink into a tree.   
Cricket took this opportunity to dive at the remaining worm, knocking him backwards a ways, and causing another miss.   
"Nip! RUN!" Cricket yelled, flapping her wings to regain altitude and escape the fury of the angered general, who was sputtering in utter rage.   
Nip didn't need to be told twice. This wasn't a safe place to be, not by a long shot. He started padding down the path in the same direction as Cricket, just as the worms were recovering from the attacks the endured.   
"Captain! We need reinforcements!" One of the two remaining worms sputtered, slithering towards their fallen captain, who was having a difficult time returning to his feet in his current state of anger, "This is insane!"   
"I will nto be beaten!" The captain managed to choke out, flipping awkwardly over to his stumpy feet, "They're no match for Grey Wolf's troops! GET THEM!"   
The two worms looked to each other nervously.   
"I SAID GET THEM!" The captain bellowed again, causing immediate action from his subordinates as they rolled down the path. They wouldn't lose their quarry this time, their lives depended on it. 

"Cricket! What's that ahead?!" Nip yelled over the wind as they tore through the woods as fast as they could.   
Cricket swooped down and flew next to him, peering through the dense woods, "I don't know," She yelled back, "Looks like a temple of some sort, maybe we'll be safe there!"   
"Worth a try!" Nip panted. He couldn't keep up their current pace for much longer, that was for sure.   
Cricket glanced over her shoulder when she heard twigs and braches snap. They were being followed again. She didn't know how much protection the temple would offer, and personally she didn't care. It was time to stop running and face them. She was tired of running.   
"Nip," She growled, not yelling anymore, "When we get to the temple, we're gonna turn around and fight... maybe we'll surprise them enough to stand a chance."   
Nip visibly paled beneath his blue fur, "Are... you sure?"   
"Yes." She growled, "But remember to watch out for their stingers. If you even get grazed by one of those, you'll be done."   
He nodded a bit in response as the temple grew ever nearer. Somehow now he liked the forest a lot better, but she was right. It was time to fight for their safety.   
The temple came up quickly, almost too quickly for Nip's taste. They found themselves racing into the dark halls and corridoors, with no sense of direction whatsoever, and also found themselves slowing down in order to stay close to one another.   
"Nip? You there kid?" Cricket called after they had run for what seemed like hours, but was, in reality, only some ten minutes.   
"I'm here Cricket!" He called out, a bit too loudly, considering they were only a few feet away, "You think maybe we lost them?"   
Suddenly Nip jumped in the darkness as a form raced by them and skidded to a hault as it passed. It was one of the worms. They could hear the same behind them... they were trapped again, and this time, they were at a distinct disadvantage. Everyone knew Black Worms could see just as well in the dark as most monsters could see in the noon-time sun.   
"Nip!" Cricket yelled out of fear, he voice shakey, a bit more high pitched.   
"Get them!" The two lost monsters could hear the captain yell.   
The two worms raised their poison dart tipped tails into the air and aimed...   
Without warning the room became alive with torch light, and all of the monsters were painfully aware of their surroundings. They stood in a large stone room that was empty save torches covering the walls and one large throne like chair, possibly seven feet tall. Atop the chair rested a large suit of ornate armor, a sword resting across its lap, and above that still, carved into the solid stone wall, was the image of another suit of armor (this one a great deal taller, possibly 14 feet or so), with giant wings, the span of which covered at least half the wall.   
"Where are we?" Nip asked, his voice surprisingly calm, despite the danger they were in.   
Cricket, however, was still glancing around, very aware of the worms on all sides, who, luckily, appeared to be in just as much awe as the little Bowow, "I heard of a place like this... that's Garuda, a guardian of innocent monsters."   
The captain worm growled, "Too bad for you it isn't real." he grinned wickedly, "Good bye you little..."   
"Stop!" A bellowing voice filled the chamber with a hollow, almost metalic sound.   
"Ex... cuse me?" One of the worms shuttered, "Who said that... captain?"   
The captain grumbled a bit, "It's just a trick, kill them now!"   
The room was again filled with sound, but this sound was a rusty clanking as the suit of armor on the throne rose, its metal hand clamping around the sword in its lap, "I said stop."   
"What the... CAPTAIN!?"   
The captain worm looked as distressed as the other four monsters in the room, but tried to keep his voice even, "Get it! Get IT!" He lowered his tail and let the poison dart fly, but it was easily deflected by a simple swing of its hand.   
The captain recoiled in fear, "Don't just sit there! GET IT!"   
Both worms aimed their shaking tails at the goliath, but before they could fire, it leapt into action. A swift kick sent one of the worms hurtling against the wall. Upon impact it flashed brightly and faded, becoming a vine entwined mystery disk.   
"What... happened?!" Nip scremed, hiding behind Cricket, who was shivering only slightly less than him.   
"He... killed it! It's... a lost monster!"   
The second worm screamed and started to inch away as the animated suit of armor spun to face it, but its attention was diverted as another dart clanged harmlessly off of its armored shell.   
"You've made a powerful enemy! We'll be back!" The captin yelled, rolling into a ball, "Grey Wolf doesn't accept defeat!"   
The creature made a sound similar to a growl, and in a moment, it was pounding towards the Captain Worm, who panicked and began rolling away as quickly as he could...   
But not quickly enough.   
A single swing of the creature's mighty blade, and the black worm was no more, replaced by the disk of a lost monster. Nip and Cricket could do nothing but stare in terror and pray that they weren't next. They turned just quick enough to see the last worm escape into the forest, and again turned to see the creature not pursue... it just... watched them.   
"H... hello?" Nip called calmly.   
Cricket grabbed him, "We gotta go Nip! That thing's gonna kill us!"   
"No... it saved us." Nip shrugged her hand off, "What's your name?"  
The creature's "head", which was nothing but a disembodied helmet, "Cutter." it responded, a monotone, almost moaning voice.   
"Hello... Cutter!" Nip smiled weakly, trying to appear friendly, ignoring his fear, "I'm Nip!" he glared at Cricket and nudged her.  
She blinked and shook her head, "Cricket..."   
"You are safe here... Nip... Cricket." The creature muttered, tromping back to its throne, "You may stay as long as you wish."  
"Wait! Where are we?" Cricket called out, raising a hand to stop the creature, "What are you?"  
"You are in the Temple of Garuda. I am Cutter, a Durahan. Follower of Garuda."   
"A... Durahan?" Nip asked, confused more than usual, "What's that?"  
"He's a monster, Nip," Cricket replied, confused, "Just like us..."   
Cutter didn't seem to notice the conversation about him, only a few feet from him, and sat back on his throne, again, seeming like part of the atmospher.   
"Wait! Cutter!" Nip called out, "Thanks for saving us."  
The monster didn't respond. It didn't even nod.   
"Um... why're you here?" Nip asked, a bit nervous and uneasy.   
"Nip! Let's go!" Cricket growled.   
"I protect monsters that need me." Cutter responded to Nip's question.   
"But... then why do you stay here?" Nip frowned a bit, "I mean... monsters are suffering all over and..."  
"I know." Cutter interrupted simply, still not moving an inch. An onlooker would probably not suspect the eerie, disembodied voice was even coming from the armor on the throne.   
"Then why don't you..."  
"I must stay." He interrupted again.   
Cricket frowned this time, and was the first to reply, "Come on. Surely you know about Muu..."   
"I cannot stop Muu." Cutter replied, a bit of saddness could be heard in the voice that echoed through the cold stone halls.   
"Why don't you try?" Nip chimed in, trying to sound happy, "You're really strong, I'm sure you could..."  
"I cannot stop Muu." Cutter's voice rang through the halls with the resounding sting of anger, "I must remain here. I have been defeated."   
"De...feated?"  
"He was beaten, Nip." Cricket clarified, "Beaten by Muu."  
"You... you were beaten by Muu?"  
No response.   
"But... surely you can't simply give up after one failure..." Nip tried to sound inspiring, "I'll bet if you tried you could beat Muu."  
"No one can beat Muu. I was beaten. My honor cannot be restored."   
Cricket stomped her foot, "Oh come ON! Honor?! I call it cowardice!"  
The armored figure rose, holding the sword at its side, "I am not a coward." it said simply, "I am a warrior who was beaten in battle. I have no purpose but to guard the Garuda temple."   
"You 'warriors' and your 'honor'." Cricket growled, spitting to her side, "You make me _sick_!"   
The figure continued to stand, though the helmeted head seemed to crook slightly to the side, observing the small monster inquizzitively.   
"All you can think about is your honor! Honor this and honor that! But you know what?! There are monsters out there who don't have a nice cozy place to hide after they've been beaten senseless by Muu!" Cricket screamed, fuming.   
"Cricket, why don't you..." Nip began, but stopped, seeing tears forming in her eyes.   
"We have to keep fighting! We can't stop! Day in! Day out! We fight! But do we fight for honor?! Glory!? NO! We fight to SURVIVE!"  
The Durahan began walking forward slowly but surely, the blade still down, and helmet still "looking" straight at Cricket.   
"Uh, er, Cricket...?" Nip said shakily, pulling on Cricket's arm, trying to pull her out of the way, but the small monster wouldn't budge.   
The Durahan stopped inches from Cricket, and knelt before her. In a move that surprised both Nip _and _Cricket, it reached a heavy hand, and with the care of a mother to a child, wiped a tear from Cricket's eye.   
"You cry for more than yourself, little one." It echoed, its voice almost calming now, "You cry for those lost in battle."   
"I don't cry for anyone you lunk head." She growled, "Your pride got in my eyes..." she muttered, though her serious tone belittled her joke.   
"I was idealistic once." It said, standing slowly, "I protected monsters and humans alike. But Muu is powerful. We cannot defeat him. So we hide. We run. We do not fight him."  
"Why not?" Nip asked meekly, feeling left out. Both monsters looked at him like he grew a new head.   
"He is strong, Nip." Cutter said, turning fully to face the little dog monster, "We cannot win."  
"Who says?" Nip replied, smiling, "There's gotta be more good monsters than bad! And there's still tons of mystery disks out there! We just need to find lotsa monsters to help us fight!"  
"That's idiocy!" Cricket yelled, crossing her arms.   
"So you'd rather run?!" Nip yelled back with such contempt that Cricket actually took a step back. Nip turned to Cutter, "Or hide?" to which he looked down, "Come on! We just have to unite all those who want to fight AGAINST Muu! We can't do it alone... but there are so many who want his reign to end... we can do it together! All of us! I know it!"  
Cricket looked up to Cutter, who looked down to her, "You got a lot of guts for a new born."  
"You have the strength of a true warrior, Nip." Cutter nodded aproval, "We have nothing to lose. Our lives are meaningless with Muu controling us with fear."   
"So there! We'll fight him! As one!" Nip smiled broadly, "We'll take back our lives! And our friends!"  
Cricket tried to hide her slight smile as she shook her head, "Well I'll be... the little twerp has guts after all! I'm in!"   
Nip nodded happily, "What about you Cutter?"  
Cutter looked away, "I... I do not know." he looked down and stayed silent for a moment, as did the other two monsters. Finally he looked up, "Yes. I will fight with you."  
Nip jumped happily to Cricket and gave her a big hug, to which she shoved him away, "Don't start getting fresh, twerp." she growled, though even she couldn't help but grin abit. They were finally fighting back. They probably wouldn't win... but who knows? 


End file.
